At this time last year I was on a wonderful but frantic countdown to my upcoming wedding in May. Having worked a touch too hard in the months leading up to Christmas 2010 my now husband and I were really quite far behind in even getting the basics of our special day in place. Come January 2011 and with only 4.5 months left, we were starting to give both sides of our families a nervous breakdown.
To say that we were unorganised (for reasons that were outside of our control) was an understatement. For people organising their wedding now, you'll know from reading magazines and wedding literature that one of the first things you do is book your church or registrar. Well we hadn't done that!
All I can say is that with a bit of faith (of which I thankfully have a lot!), some very hard work and a great deal of imagination - anything is possible!
We booked our place of marriage at St.Brannock's Church Braunton, Devon http://brauntonchurch.org/ - with a bit of going backwards and forwards we settled on the time of 3pm.
I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions we made as the church was fantastic and our Reverend John was unforgettable (in a good way!).
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| Inside St. Brannock's Church Braunton |
I think it helped that our Vicar dropped the wedding rings, although thankfully they were both found and the organist I am pretty sure played a different tune to the hymns that we were singing but that aside it added to the joy and happiness of the whole experience!
I can absolutely advise that anyone thinking of getting married in a Church should embark on the wedding preparation course they give you as part of your package before marriage. It was a great way to ensure that we really understood what we were getting into before we made a very big life decision. It is informal and no pressure is placed upon you in anyway. For me I do believe in God and it was a great way for the Church we got married at to get to know us and really understand why we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
Our wedding photographer Dave Keightly http://www.howaboutdave.com/ was brilliant at capturing priceless and innocent moments of love and laughter. My advice to anyone organising their wedding is to get a photographer who puts you at ease, who is willing to be flexible (as timings always shift) and who really understands the style of shots you want on your special day.
Informal shots were also captured by photographer Paul Salmon http://www.paulsalmonphotography.com/ - although as Step-Father to the bride he had other jobs to do that day!!
We also opted to having a videographer. http://www.petecoxproductions.co.uk/petecoxproductions/Weddings.html - this was one of the best financial decisions we made for our wedding. I know that lots of people who opted out of being filmed later regretted it. I would say that if you can afford it and are able to get over the nerves of being filmed it is a brilliant gift to be able to re-live the most magical day of your life again. Once you're back from your honeymoon and it all feels like a distant memory, receiving the final cut of your film just made us both cry initially but so happy to see and remember how we felt all over again!!! Pete's filming style combined with the music tracks we selected makes our film a real tear jerker!!
Reception Venue: The Tunnels Beaches, Ilfracombe, Devon - http://www.tunnelsbeaches.co.uk/
We were extremely lucky to be able to book a beautiful seaside venue for our reception! Being the 3rd couple to have our reception at this newly built 3 story, glass fronted bit of paradise was such a blessing.
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| Mini Photo shoot outside the old bath house...we didn't photoshop in the birds (promise!!) |
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| Outside of The Tunnels |
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| Entrance to The Tunnels |
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| View from the rooftop of the venue |
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| View from the sea looking back at the venue |
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| Wedding cake & my wedding flowers |
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| Our wedding post box - give to us by my sister-in-law on my hen do in Porth, Newquay |
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| Vintage Bunting by Ella Pickard (captured at dusk) |
We selected a reggae carnival band called Zamba - http://www.myspace.com/zambaband. Thankfully they were recommended to us by my sister-in-law and as she had them at her wedding in the October before, we got to sample just how great they were upfront!
After a long but wonderful day - our magical experience came to a conclusion with a surprise live performance from my Step-Dad Paul Salmon, who joined forces with the Zamba band (completely unbeknown to me) and played a song he wrote a few years ago after a road trip with my Mum Yvonne in California down Highway 1. The song was called 'John Cougar on the radio' and it was the best end to a day that a girl could ever hope for!! Thank you Daddy Fish! (My little nickname for him as his surname is Salmon!!).
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| Daddy Fish singing 'John Cougar on the radio' |
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| Sophi & Ed's first dance to 'Your love keeps lifting' by Jackie Wilson 1967 |
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| The Zamba Band |
- Remember why you are getting married in the first place: whether you leave yourself enough time or like us you find yourself rushing, there are no two ways about it weddings can be stressful. We managed to avoid major bust ups but in trying to please everyone you can sometimes lose track of what you actually want and why you're getting married in the first place. For me I believe in God and he kept me sane throughout the slightly rushed process. Standing in front of God and saying my vows to Ed will always be the best thing I've ever done in my life. All the nerves went and I just knew that what I was saying was the right thing. Enjoy this part of your marriage and don't be nervous. Hopefully you only get one shot at getting it right so take it easy and just relax. We did and it was easily for me the best part of the day!
- Don't get yourself into debt. Although I love my then boyfriend and now husband, I was always mindful that it was all for just 1 day!!! I wanted it to be special but not so special that we spent the next 10 years paying for it. If like us, you are paying for your own wedding, then make sure you budget. If you can't afford your wedding right now then put a saving plan into place and wait. We waited over 14 months before getting married so that we could comfortably pay for things without the financial worry afterwards. There is no need to cut too many corners but just be sensible and factor in what fits easily within you're allocated budget. Thankfully we did get a lot of help by way of peoples time and in parts money too. Don't be afraid to let people help you when they offer. You can't control everything (as I learnt the hard way!) and you can find it taking the joy out of your organisation.
- My dress was not a typical wedding dress. It was under £300 and was off the peg from a designer called Anouska G http://www.anoushkag.com/docs/index.html. The price of my dress didn't matter to me as I just knew it was for me!
- My shoes were a treat by Vivienne Westwood http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/ but again not a silly overly expensive one as they were a sub-line making them more affordable.
- My accessories to fulfil the vintage element were from an antique store and cost me under £50.
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| Ed and Sophi Leaving St. Brannock's Church - dress by Anoushka G and shoes by Viviene Westwood. Eds suit was from TM Lewin |
- Lastly - ensure you spend time with your partner on the day. As you would expect on your wedding day everyone wants a piece of you! Thankfully one of my lovely best friends Lydia loaned us her fathers Mercedes and agreed to be our driver for the day ( a great wedding gift!). A further surprise to us was a bottle of champagne in the car from the church to our venue. Lydia barely spoke on the way to the reception (although we didn't ask her not to!!) but this left Ed and I 15 minutes to scream with excitement as to what we had just done! I fully recommend catching a moment together because the next time that happened was when we were in bed and I was so shattered the only thing that could happen was sleeping! Whoops!
With Love From,
Sophi Snowflake xx
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